What’s your favorite movie or show to watch every Halloween?
From bone-chilling (Insidious) to family friendly (The Nightmare Before Christmas) to, well, Halloween, here's a rundown of our must-rewatch faves
Film Features halloween
(Clockwise from bottom left:) The Nightmare Before Christmas (Disney Entertainment Studios), Insidious (Momentum Pictures), Halloween (Compass International Pictures), Scream (Paramount) Graphic: Rebecca Fassola
Happy Halloween! For many, the year’s eeriest holiday isn’t complete without an annual viewing of a beloved horror or fall flick, a sentimental favorite TV episode, or even a silly SNL spoof. To celebrate October 31 this year, we’re asking The A.V. Club staff and contributors: What’s your favorite movie or video to watch every Halloween?
18 Comments
every time Clarisse descends
Clarice.
I like to double-feature the original Scream and Happy Death Day – both have good scares while also being really fun, which is kinda what Halloween is all about!
I saw Insidious in the theater with my two cousin’s in 2010 (they were like 18 and 14) and they barley could keep their eyes open. I was scared shitless to start the movie with the shadow in the window as creepy old women have always scared me (I was 36 when it came out). What a fun fucking scary movie!
Also there was 3 large men sitting to my left in this NYC Murrary hill theater and they were screaming as scared as well during the movie!
I like to watch Creepshow every Halloween. Been watching Trick r Treat the past few years too. I love the horror anthology movies.
The Haunting. Forever and always, The Haunting.
For me, it’s The Crow.
Same, although we always watch it on the 30th, obv.Fire it up! Fire it up! Fire it up! Fire it up!
Oh, that’s a better idea!Devil’s Night, my new favorite holiday.
At the risk of cheating, we usually watch a few things annually for Halloween:
– Bladeilogy (Blade, Blade II, and Blade Trinity)- The Lost Boys-Fright Night (2011)- Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
– Vampire Hunter D (1985) & VHD: Bloodlust
We only do two (which is less than our Christmas viewing list):The Rocky Horror Picture Show, andThe Cabin in the WoodsWe’re good with those. We had to watch RHPS this weekend during the day though, so the baby could watch…
PhantasmBoyyyyyyy!
The Fog
Anything from 60s Hammer, or anything from Corman’s Poe period. They strike just the right tone for me, taking the material seriously but not to the extent I’m losing sleep over it.
Young Frankenstein is on my yearly watch list as well. It just strikes that perfect balance of humor and suspense/old time horror. I love how it parodies the old Frankenstein & Bride of Frankenstein films while at the same time treating them with some sort of reverence while taking the piss out of them. It was made with quality and care, not just slapped together. I think it’s best watched as a trilogy with the old Universal Frankenstein & Bride of Frankenstein with Young Frankenstein coming last to really see how much of the originals they incorporated.Another one I like to throw on is Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein. I mean, you get Bela Lugosi returning as Dracula and Lon Chaney Jr as the Wolfman in addition to the Frankenstein Monster (Glenn Strange this time around), and even a cameo by the Invisible Man voiced by Vincent Price.
“Over The Garden Wall”, even it’s not strictly a Halloween thing. (I watch one or two episodes every evening all through October, reading up on the episodes in the art book in parallel. It’s such a comforting ritual that I look forward to the time when “autumn colors fall”, as the song has it, for this alone.) On Halloween itself, it’s a different horror classic that I hadn’t come around to watch yet each year. Made it to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre yesterday — it’s good, ya all!
Don’t Look Now
I really like any Tim burton movie
I always watch ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown’.
Anything after that is down to mood and opportunity. This year was mostly ‘30s Universal monster movies.